Toss Securities said on Thursday it will take proactive steps to prevent losses from financial crimes such as illegal stock tip group solicitations, impersonation and phishing that fuel investment sentiment around the Lunar New Year holiday.

Ahead of the holiday, Toss Securities will send alerts on precautions to prevent financial fraud losses that have been rising recently.

The move aims to raise awareness of illegal tip group tactics that lure investors with phrases such as "guaranteed high returns" and "premium information", then approach them through social media or YouTube or induce clicks on links to invite them into external group chat rooms.

Toss Securities said the following may be highly likely to be an illegal tip group: when someone introduces themselves as a securities firm employee and recommends investments on social media or YouTube; when someone invites users via a link to join a group chat room; when a specific app is installed as instructed by a chat room; and when deposits are induced with profit as bait and taxes or fees are demanded first for withdrawals.

It also delivered a message that swift action is crucial, as tactics have become more sophisticated, including the use of AI deepfake technology to appear like real experts or financial firm staff, or producing fake apps similar in form to official securities firm apps.

The alerts also include situation-specific response guides.

If someone only receives contact, it recommended blocking and ignoring it. If someone entered a chat room, it recommended exiting immediately and reporting the account.

If an app is installed, it advised checking whether personal information was entered and deleting it. If money has already been deposited, it urged users not to comply with requests for additional deposits, to secure evidence such as chat records and remittance details, and to report to the Financial Supervisory Service.

In particular, posts that could lead to direct consumer harm, such as promotion of tip groups or inducement into external messenger group chats, are verified through separate machine learning-based detection logic and promptly subject to activity suspension measures.

If reports above a certain threshold are received, an alert is immediately sent to dedicated management personnel and additional monitoring is also carried out.

A Toss Securities official said, "Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, we are focusing on proactive guidance and responses so that customers are not exposed to damage from illegal tip groups, impersonation or phishing." The official added, "We will continue to strengthen our customer protection system."